A Rose with Ten Petals
by Princess Adrenaline
Summary: A place for me to release all my TenxRose feels in the form of drabbles. Some will be purely platonic, intensely romantic, just everyday fluff, or angsty enough to break your heart.
1. Nightmare

It's a dark night. It's a bright day. It's a fast hurdle through time and space, and all is quiet in the TARDIS. Even with all the adventures of the Doctor and Rose, they both must sleep at some point. So it's quiet, very quiet, and the only sound is the TARDIS' soft grumbling as she travels mindlessly.

The soft sleepytime is interrupted by dark dreams. This isn't unusual. The Doctor has an ugly past, so it often haunts him: massacring his own kind; his family. This time is different, though. It's the first time that someone else has entered the dream. He is trying to avoid pushing the big red button, but he knows that he will. It happens every single time. He has to kill them. It's the only way for there to be peace. But Rose appears to him suddenly, kneeling on the opposite side of the box. She glances at him without emotion and speaks calmly. "Hello, Doctor."

He gets caught off-guard. "Rose." In all of the times that this nightmare has happened, Rose has never been shown. Is he beginning to be influenced by her so greatly?

She traced the big red button with her index finger lightly. "It doesn't always have to end like this."

"I don't want it to, but it will." His eyes are filled with pain.

Rose cocks her head and smiles slightly. "How about a bit of motivation? If you push that big red button, your whole family will be killed."

"That's not new-"

"It will kill me, too."

The Doctor's eyes widen. He breathes heavily. He doesn't want to kill his family, but he must, as the peace must be kept. However, with Rose thrown into the picture… "Rose, please. Get out of here. I can't kill you, too."

She reaches forward and cradles his jaw in her hand. "But you will."

He closes his eyes and begins to cry. "Please."

"Just don't push the button, and I'll stay alive."

The Doctor opens his eyes and holds Rose's gaze as he presses down on the button. Time seems to freeze. Her bittersweet smile is stuck in place. "Rose." She begins to fade. "Rose?" Her smile is the last thing he sees before he is alone once more.

"Rose!" His eyes fly open and he sits up in bed, panting heavily. "Rose!" he yells again, scrambling to get up and run out of his room. What if he really has killed her? What if his best friend in the world has been wiped from existence? "Rose!" he cries, stumbling through the seemingly endless maze of the TARDIS.

At one of the intersections, they crash into each other and fall down hard. "Bloody hell!" Rose complains, slowly getting up while dusting herself off. "I can't sleep with all this… yelling…" She sees his tear-stained face and immediately sobers up. "Doctor?"

He stands up and wraps his arms around her. She is safe. He hasn't killed her. "I thought you were dead."

She returns the hug and soothingly rubs his back. "Hey, why would I be? I'm safe with you."

_"I can't kill you, too."_

_"But you will."_

The Doctor swallows and breathes audibly. "Of course you are." He nods, trying to assure himself. "Yes, I'll make sure you're safe."

"And I'll do the same for you!" Rose gives him one last squeeze before letting go and smiling at him. "Now, let's go back to sleep, eh?"

The TARDIS' emergency alarm suddenly goes off, startling both Time Lord and companion. The Doctor shakes off his bad dream and grins. "Looks like another adventure!" He grasps her hand, and the two run together down the hallway, all nightmares forgotten.


	2. Birthday

Time is like a river- fluid, fast, and a blur. There are fixed points in time, which are like rocks. There are also pebbles that roll around, but Time Lords ironically don't have the time to investigate those. So when the Doctor and his companion visit modern-day London, he is surprised by the fact that it is Rose's birthday.

"My baby girl, turning twenty," Jackie coos, hugging her daughter and swaying.

The Doctor tries to figure out why he never knew. Perhaps their year of constant adventure never allowed them some downtime to talk about trivial facts. Perhaps he never gave her the chance to say.

"Doctor!" Jackie catches his attention. "Thanks for bringing Rose home on her birthday."

"Not a problem," he replies with a quick smile before standing up. "I'll leave you to your festivities. When you're ready, the TARDIS is in the kitchen."

"About that… Can you move it to the living room, at least?" Jackie requests, wrinkling her nose at the sight of the blue police box taking up her kitchen space.

"Will do!" The Doctor makes his way to his baby and steps inside with a great exhale. "Her birthday!" he whispers, once again trying to comprehend why he didn't know. An idea strikes him, and he decides to make a pitstop on his way to the living room.

At seven o'clock that evening, Rose is more than ready to go, as Jackie wants her to stay overnight. The TARDIS finally makes its entrance. Rose grins and hugs her mother once more. "I'll come back soon," she promises, then unlocks the box. She steps inside and closes the door behind her. "It took you long enough!" she breathes, smiling at the Doctor's dance around the console.

He cocks his head and grins right back. "I don't want you taking your family for granted." The mood turns a bit sour. The Doctor realizes what he's said and starts babbling again. "Well! It's your birthday, Rose Tyler. I believe it's customary to get the birthday girl a gift?" He picks up a neatly wrapped box from a shelf on the console and tosses it to Rose.

Despite being surprised, Rose catches it. She raises an eyebrow at the Doctor.

"What?" the Doctor asks with a pout. "Come on, you'll like it."

She blows some air out and walks up to the console to open it in front of him. Turning it in her hands, she locates a break in the gift wrap and tears it open as gently as she can. A lovely mahogany box rests in her hands with her name engraved in bold letters on top. She glances at the giddy Doctor and smiles a bit before cracking it open. A glimpse of silver catches the light and shines into her eyes. She squints but opens it fully, her curiosity still intact. An elegant silver mask rests there in its glory.

"I went to London in 1666 and nearly ran into myself! Didn't want to risk crossing my own timeline, so I made a quick switch to 17th century Paris. I did a favor for Anne of Austria, and she relayed this gem to me. Do you like it?" He looks from the mask to his companion with hopeful eyes.

Rose inspects the swirling design of the mask and smiles brightly. "It's beautiful," she says confidently. She wraps her free arm around the Doctor's waist. An odd question strikes her, so she turns and asks, "When is your birthday?"

Taken aback, the Doctor thinks for a moment. "Gallifrey had its own calendar, much different from yours. I don't know when mine would be on Earth."

Rose nodded and looked away in thought. "Well," she said, another smile gracing her lips. "Pick a day."

The Doctor raises his eyebrows and grins. "Alright, then." He thinks about what his favorite season is, but can't decide on one. Holidays cross his mind, but none are important enough. His eyes light up with the idea of one particular day. "The sixth day of March."

The sentimentality of that date doesn't go by Rose. "The day I went off with you? Are you sure?" she asks. "You don't have to feel compelled to just because I'm your current companion." She cringes at the word _current_, but still tries to smile.

Rose still isn't getting the point. Before he met her, the Doctor was a mess, still fresh from decimating Gallifrey. Meeting her was like being reborn. Without her knowledge, she was beautifully distracting from his horrific past. His only worry was to keep her safe, and that's all he had room for. So the Doctor shakes his head at Rose's commentary and kisses her head. "You brought me back to life that day, Rose Tyler. I'm _sure_." He ruffles her hair with a smile, to which she laughs and tries to get him off._ Seems as if I have a birthday now. This makes me a bit more human,_ he thinks. _Nothing wrong with that._


End file.
